whalefall

See also: whale fall

English

Etymology

From whale +‎ fall, possibly modelled after snowfall. Compare also marine snow.

Noun

whalefall (plural whalefalls)

  1. A whale carcass that has fallen to the ocean floor.
    • 2007 December 18, Henry Fountain, “Whales Are Tasty, but Bone-Eating Worms Might Not Discriminate”, in New York Times‎:
      But the ocean floor is not exactly wall-to-wall whalefalls.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.